Increment operator like C's "++"?

syzygy

And while we're at it, while Miniscript already has the notation "x+=5" for "x=x+5", can we have something similar too to increment/decrement a variable, ie "x++" being equivalent to "x=x+1"?

It would make neater code, I think.

syzygy

jstrout

Barely. x+=1 is only one character more than x++, and is far more general. It's also easier for new programmers to understand. And if we had x++, you would ask for ++x next, making it even more confusing.

One of MiniScript's central design goals is "stay mini" — we won't add new syntax unless there is a really strong reason for it, and in this case, there is none.

syzygy

A compromise could be functions like the old GfA BASIC used, where you had "INC x", "MUL y, z" and such for the basic calulations.
I find something like that much easier to understand, and "INC x" makes it clear that we increment to the next integer, and not make any arbitrary calculations. It also eliminates possible errors like "x+=l"

PureFox48

Personally, I'm happy with x += 1 and, even in languages which allow x++ or ++x , I often prefer to use the former so I don't have to worry about the implications of pre or post in place incrementation. If you find it confusing, you can always use x = x + 1 instead.

The trouble with introducing something like inc is that it would need to be an intrinsic and could therefore break existing code which has used it as an ordinary identifier. Also it would need to be a statement rather than a function as it would increment the argument variable in place and we don't have pass by reference for numbers.

jstrout

All true, though since every variable belongs to some map, you could do something similar as a map extension:

map.inc = function(var, increment=1)
    self[var] += increment
end function

The only drawback is that you have to quote the name of the variable. So if you have an object obj with a property x, you can write obj.inc "x". Or within a method on that class, you could use self.inc "x".

And if you just have a local variable, you could use locals.inc "x" (or for globals, globals.inc "x").

Not saying it's a good idea, but it's something you could do if you really want to. 🙂